The dream of long-distance train travellers taking their seat in Edinburgh or
Leeds and not alighting until Paris Gare de Nord could become a reality
after Eurostar put in a bid to run the East Coast Main Line.

Eurostar is teaming up with Keolis, another French-controlled company, in
applying to operate the ill-starred, nationalised London-Yorkshire-Scotland
rail service when it is put back into the private sector in the next few
months.

The bid is a first for Eurostar, which has not applied to run a privatised UK
rail franchise despite nearly 20 years’ experience operating the high-speed
train services from